The 1985 Buffalo Bills season was the franchise's 16th season in the
National Football League, and the 26th overall. It was Buffalo's second-consecutive 2–14 season. Head coach
Kay Stephenson was fired after an 0–4 start. Defensive coordinator
Hank Bullough took over, going 2–10 for the remainder of the season. For the second consecutive season, the Bills went winless on the road.
Season summary
The Bills' offense was anemic; its 200 points scored is the lowest total in the 1980s,[note 1] and the lowest total in team history for a sixteen-game schedule. Having concluded that longtime starting quarterback
Joe Ferguson's career was over after a spike in interceptions in the early 1980s, the Bills cut him in the offseason. (The assumption would be in error, as Ferguson would sign with the
Detroit Lions and play an additional six seasons in the NFL after being released.) Ferguson's replacements, quarterbacks
Vince Ferragamo and
Bruce Mathison, only produced 9 passing touchdowns all season,[1] while combining for a league-high 31 interceptions.[2] Buffalo scored fewer than ten points in seven of its sixteen games. The team’s point-differential of negative-181 is the third-worst in franchise history.
In 1985, the Bills used the first overall pick in the draft to select All-American defensive end
Bruce Smith. Smith would end up going on to dominate throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. Smith was an 11-time
All-Pro selection, two-time
NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and logged an NFL-record 200 sacks[note 2] by the end of his career.
Fourth-round pick
Andre Reed, a wide receiver out of Kutztown (PA) State, would go on to be the leading receiver in Buffalo Bills history. When he retired after the
2000 season, Reed's 951 career receptions were third in NFL history behind
Jerry Rice and
Cris Carter.[3]
Maryland quarterback
Frank Reich would become famous for quarterbacking “
The Comeback”, a
1993 playoff game in which Buffalo, down 35–3 in the third quarter, would score 35 unanswered points to win 41–38 in overtime. It is the largest deficit overcome to win a game in NFL history.[note 3]
Reed played more games with the Bills, 221, than any other player. Smith was second with 217 games.[4]